


Closer Than You Think

by Jen425



Series: Long Live The Power (A Power Rangers Rewrite) [3]
Category: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Rewrite, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Loss of Innocence, Mind Control
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-06-15
Packaged: 2020-03-09 05:50:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18910840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jen425/pseuds/Jen425
Summary: He leans in and whispers one final messages. “Just remember… I’m closer than you think.”Or: Green With Evil, but… different. Darker.





	1. Rita

**Author's Note:**

> Hilariously, this entire AU started with Ninjasteel, but it started with NSteel via an exchange prompt, so… to hide my identity, please enjoy a super painful rewrite of Green With Evil!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He’s perfect in almost every way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I hope you enjoy this fic. I’m trying to make it unique while still in character.

Tommy Oliver is the perfect Green Ranger, Rita Repulsa knows this, even before they prove themself an equal fighter to the Red Ranger, the most skilled of Zordon’s chosen child soldiers.

 

They probably see him as a father figure. This perfect beacon of good, who wanted the best for both them and the universe.

 

It’s been a long time since Rita was in their place. She doesn’t miss it.

 

But. Back to Tommy.

 

They’re exactly what she needs.

 

Rita, for all that she abides by the rules of the war, hasn’t _not_ watched the rest of the planet, even as she goes after the Rangers in Angel Grove.

 

A month and a half of freedom. Still warning shots, testing shots, but…

 

But it’s time to make a real move, and she _knows_ Tommy Oliver. She’s tested them with disguised Putties, teleported nearby them, to look into their mind and learn exactly what makes them tick.

 

She’s impressed.

 

Tommy Oliver has had no shortage of hardship, in their life, always a bit too quick to forgive as friends push them around.

 

But… there’s resentment, too. Anger at things that are wrong. And intelligence and determination equal to, if not surpassing, his more obvious physical strength.

 

Well, Rita happens to think that _Zordon_ is wrong, and maybe she can get Tommy to agree with her.

 

She has the perfect plan, to test both their strength and their potential loyalty.

  
  


Tommy takes a shortcut through the park, wanting to not be late for a chance to make some new friends, in a new place.

 

His mom is finally okay and with a steady job, his stepdad is finally gone for good, and maybe it’ll be worth it, and maybe there’s a chance to make real friends. Kimberly had seemed nice enough.

 

Suddenly, he finds himself surrounded by approximately 30 strange grey creatures. He drops his bag and jumps into a ready stance, and he does manage to get more than half of them down before the others wear him down.

 

He has the fleeting thought that these things might kill him.

 

“Haaaa!”

 

Sudden, a strange woman appears, she wears a pinkish-brown tunic-like dress and black, loose-fitting pants, underneath, and her long, silver hair is tied in two braids, braided with green fabric and going exceptionally long.

 

“Need help, my child?” She asks. Tommy smiles, nodding as they end up back-to-back.

 

(The putties don’t hold back on Rita, but, then again, she knows how to defeat them with relative ease.)

 

Eventually, the last three or four simply teleport away.

 

Tommy’s panting, and so is the strange woman.

 

“I thought I was gonna be destroyed by strange grey men in a park,” he says. “What were those things?”

 

“Putties,” the woman says. “They showed up with the monsters and the Power Rangers.”

 

Right. The Power Rangers. Tommy laughs.

 

“I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen them in action, just yesterday,” he says. “Hey, thanks.”

 

The woman laughs.

 

“It was no problem,” she says. “I like you, child. And I haven’t had the chance to fight like that in… over ten thousand years.”

 

Tommy laughs, again.

 

“Well, thanks anyways,” he says. “I’m Tommy.”

 

The woman shakes his hand.

 

“Call me… Emerald,” she says.

  
  


Tommy Oliver passes the first test and still makes it, in time to hang out with the Rangers. Rita considers sending a monster, but what good will that do?

 

No. Even if it comes to more literal mind games, No spell will hold someone with a will like Tommy’s unless they’re at least partially convinced. The best thing to do is take her time and get her future Green Ranger close to both the Rangers and herself.

 

Though, obviously, for opposite reasons.

 

Tommy is exactly how she expected them to be, in person. A Good kid, really, maybe too good.

 

Or maybe just a challenge to work with.

 

And then there’s that other factor…

 

Rita still has work to do, before she can make Tommy a Ranger.

  
  


Tommy decides to practice in the park,the next day, at the spot by the lake where he’d fought those… putty… things, yesterday. It’s a nice spot to work at, he will admit.

 

For whatever reason, he finds himself less than surprised, when Emerald walks up to him, pausing in his movements.

 

“Hi,” he says. “What are you doing here?”

 

Emerald smiles.

 

“The same as you,” she says. “Training. And… well, and watching you.”

 

What?

 

“Me?” Tommy asks. Emerald nods.

 

“Yes, you,” she says. “I know you’re a good fighter, but something tells me that you’re mean for… more, in the universe.”

 

“Really?” Tommy asks. Emerald nods.

 

“Yes,” Emerald says, smiling. “Actually, What about, whenever you’re done, we go get something to eat, and we talk?”

 

Well Tommy’s been practicing for over an hour, by now, so…

 

“I’m done,” he says, “Where should we eat?”

  
  


Rita sends monsters with much less power than usual, too busy with the Dragon Shield and getting Tommy where she wants them, for anything else.

 

Here’s the thing. In potential, in skill, and even, Rita admits, in personal preference, Tommy Oliver is the perfect Green Ranger.

 

They even remind her of herself, long ago.

 

But they don’t have the Power.

 

The Dragon Shield will fix that. With it, Tommy can bond with the Green Power Coin, and forever hold the potential for the Power. It’s not perfect, of course, but it will work for a time. There are ways to fix it, such as merging Tommy’s powers with that of another Ranger.

 

Everything is set in place within three weeks.

  
  


Tommy spends almost all of his time with either Kim, Zack, Trini, Billy, and Jason or with Emerald. And he finds himself meshing with both, even if they all seem to have secrets.

 

That’s okay. Everyone has secrets.

 

(He suspects what five of those are, but… he’s not telling.)

 

“Tommy,” Emerald says, about three weeks into knowing him. “Can I tell you a story?”

 

Tommy shrugs.

 

“Sure,” he says. “What’s it about?”

 

“A girl whose father was a monster,” Emerald says. “And was raised by a man who was almost worse, for thinking he was the good guy.”

 

Emerald laughs.

 

“My child, always remember this,” she says. “There are no heroes, not in war. When the girl was young, her mother sacrificed herself, to save her. She was brought up by a general of the Morphin Alliance. He said he loved her like a daughter, but she noticed how he looked at her. How everyone looked at her.”

 

Emerald growled.

 

“Like, because of her father, she was destined to be a monster,” she says. “And trust me, I— _she_ did everything in her power, to earn their respect, but she failed… all she was left with, when she ran, was a single, powerful artifact.”

 

Emerald sighs, and Tommy takes her hand, without thinking.

 

“There are no heroes in war,” she says. “But… Tommy, I wish to show you something.”

 

Tommy nods.

 

“Sure,” he says.

 

They both disappear in a flash of green light.

  
  


Rita had hoped she wouldn’t need to use a spell, but she’d also expected it. He hadn’t listened to her, at all. At least the spell shouldn’t change Tommy too drastically. She wanted _them_ , after all, not just their face under a green helmet.

 

“Em—my Empress,“ Tommy says. “What was that?”

 

Rita smiles.

 

“That was a lot of things,” she says. “I gifted you the Dragon Shield. Contained within it is a connection to the Morphin Grid, though its powers will only be temporary unless you merge several Rangers’ powers. I also gave you a significant amount of information on the local five galaxies and on my form of magic. As well as who even I have to listen to.”

 

Tommy stumbles, almost, in shock.

 

“Wow,” they say. “That’s… you’re really Rita Repulsa. And I…”

 

Rita smiles, putting a hand on Tommy’s shoulder. She doesn’t miss Tommy’s slight flinch.

 

“I want you,” she says. “To be my _evil_ Green Ranger.”

 

She’s honestly shocked, herself, in how much sarcasm she could put into a single word. Evil.

 

Tommy smiles at her and bows.

 

“Of course,” he says. “My Empress.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	2. Jason

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something tells Jason that this is only the beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! First chapter creepiness aside, you haven’t seen ANYTHING yet, in terms of what I’m putting everyone through.
> 
> Enjoy!

Jason meets Tommy at the competition. Ever since becoming a Ranger, he’s had to hold back, the enhanced strength, speed, and fighting skills being hard to explain. Not enough to handicap himself, but enough to move like a normal human.

 

He doesn’t, nearly as much, when fighting Tommy. And they still tie.

 

Jason grips Tommy’s hand.

 

“Great game, man,” he says. Tommy smiles.

 

“Yeah,” he says. “You too. I’m Tommy, by the way.”

 

Jason smiles back.

 

“I’m Jason,” he says. “See you around?”

 

Tommy laughs.

 

“Definitely,” he says.

 

Jason’s still surprised to see Tommy run up to their group after school, the next day.

 

“Sorry I’m late,” he says, looking at Kimberly, and… oh. That makes sense. “Something weird happened at the park.”

 

Jason finds himself locking eyes with his team.

 

“What kind of weird?” Zack asks. Tommy shrugs.

 

“There were these grey things,” he says. “Putties, right? They disappeared in a few minutes.”

 

…Strange. Jason makes a note to talk to Zordon about this.

 

“Anyways,” Tommy continues, “I’m Tommy Oliver. It’s nice to meet all of you.”

 

Over the next three weeks, Tommy becomes almost as close to Jason and the other Rangers as they are to each other.

  
  
  


Tommy thinks there was a reason he was fighting Empress Rita, but he can’t remember what it is.

 

Not that it matters.

 

“This is my team,” his Empress says. “I’ve told you about them.”

 

Two strange blue creatures, one of whom looks vaguely like a monkey, walk up to him, shaking his hands.

 

“I’m Squatt,” says the shorter one.

 

“And I’m Baboo,” says the monkey-like one. “Welcome to the team.”

 

Tommy smiles.

 

“Thanks,” he says. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  
  
  


Jason’s not instantly worried, when Tommy doesn’t show up to meet the rest of them, after school. He had, after all, mentioned visiting with another friend, first.

 

When Tommy doesn’t show up at all, he does. They all do.

 

“Do you think it’s some plot by Rita?” Asks Zack.

 

“She’d tell is, of it was,” says Trini. “At least from my studies of her past actions.”

 

But, the next day, Tommy is at school, apologizing for forgetting.

 

“My friend introduced me to her… team,” he says. “They were… a lot, I was exhausted, and I guess I just forgot.”

 

“What’s her team do?” Zack asks. Tommy shrugs.

 

“I think they do something for the military,” he says. “They probably can’t tell me more. They’re cool, though.”

 

“What are they like?” Asks Kimberly.

 

Tommy smiles.

 

“I… can’t remember their names,” he says, “But there’s four of them. My friend is in charge, and then there’s a… chemist. He’s best friends with the youngest member, who I honestly don’t know the purpose of. There’s another, older scientist, and he’s actually very caring. Last, there’s Em… my friend’s second in command. I think he’s the one who’s done the most active fighting.”

 

(If Jason had thought it through, he would have seen the truth. But none of them did, not even Trini.)

 

“What’s your friend’s name?” Jason finds himself asking. Tommy blinks.

 

“Her name?” He asks. “Oh. It’s Em—”

 

The bell rings, and Ms. Appleby starts class.

  
  
  


Tommy has gotten to know his frie— the Rangers as people, but now it’s time to get to know them as fighters. He observes them, as they fight the Putties and then Finster’s creation.

 

“Dark Sculptor, indeed,” he says. “This is incredible. But it’s going to lose.”

 

Finster laughs.

 

“Well of course it is,” he says. “This is merely a test.”

 

Tommy nods.

 

“Well, I think I have the answers,” he says. “And the beginnings of a plan of attack.”

 

Goldar grips his shoulder, Tommy turns and finds the gorilla-like alien smiling, in his way.

 

“I like you, human,” he says. “What do you have planned?”

 

Tommy smiles.

 

“A lot,” he says. “Isn’t that why I’m here? A teen Ranger, just like them, who knows just how to break them.”

  
  
  


The rest of the day, and into that Saturday, is normal. No more monster attacks because one of them takes about a week of time for Rita to recharge her magic from. It’s right around when they all usually meet up for training… and then there’s a giant Goldar stomping through town.

 

Jason growls, as he morphs, rushing to meet his team, and call his Zord. Two attacks in as many days has never happened, before.

 

Somehow, he knows that this is only the beginning.

 

The thing is, though… he’s right.

 

They don’t realize it, immediately, passing off the cut off warning as nothing. They have a fight to win.

 

“Ranger!” Alpha cries. “In—”

 

A blaster shot that they can’t place. Because it’s not there. It was over so quickly… and then, half way through charging the final attack, Goldar disappears.

 

“This fight is worthless,” he says. “We have what we wanted.”

 

When they land, they try to call Zordon, to teleport, to figure out what’s going on.

 

But there is nothing but silence.

  
  
  


Tommy’s panting, when he returns from the Command Center. Well… what’s left of it. He’s corrupted their files, broken Alpha 5 enough to take a week to fix.

 

And he’s stranded Zordon, who likely won’t be able to return, without Alpha’s help.

 

But Billy might manage it, so the Blue Ranger is at the top of Tommy’s hit list.

 

_ “You are under Rita’s spell! I can free you, Tommy,” _ Zordon says, in his memory. And… Maybe he is under Rita’s spell, but he just doesn’t care. Because she’s right.

 

So right.

 

And she’s his family, something he doesn’t really have, on Earth.

 

Goldar is the second to congratulate Tommy. The first, of course, is Empress Rita.

 

“The Rangers are caught off guard,” she says. “They’ll be easy to break and destroy.”

 

Tommy nods.

 

“Yes,” he says. “Starting… with the Heart.”

  
  
  


“The fastest way to the Command Center from here is to take my Zord,” says Kimberly.

 

“But we’ll need a civilian option, in case we get back,” points out Zack.

 

Billy is silent, but he eventually speaks.

 

“The Rad Bug,” he says. “I have made it capable of flight, and I know how to drive it.”

 

Jason nods.

 

“Okay,” he says. “You and Trini get the car, and me and Zack will go with Kimberly. Hopefully, this is nothing.”

 

He doesn’t much believe in that hope.

 

And then he finds the Command Center, everything in ruins. Alpha… glitching.

 

Zordon… gone.

 

Something tells Jason that this is only the beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	3. Billy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Billy isn’t the best at noticing when people are acting strangely. (But Trini is. Except that she’s gone.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m aware than no one is reading, but this was fun to write. Painful in the good way.

Billy isn’t the best at noticing when people are acting strangely. No, that’s Trini, and who could possibly match her?

 

He of course takes Tommy’s excuses at face value, in part because he knows he’s not much better, and mutual silence on secrets is certainly valuable, if your secrets decide the fate of the planet.

 

He’s not stupid. He knows what his new friend suspects (he actually finds it a miracle that Tommy is one of the few that does), but… there are rules for a reason.

 

Tommy is their friend, though. He slipped into the circle of Rangers with an ease that Billy can’t begin to explain.

 

He can just say that it’s  _ right _ .

 

Tommy is smart in different ways from Trini or Billy himself. He’s usually almost as clueless as Billy, in a social situation, and you would have to be completely stupid to miss how Kimberly looks at him.

 

It just… right, in a way that’s difficult to explain.

  
  
  


After the two strange blue creatures introduce themselves, another blue alien, this one with a head not dissimilar to a dog, walks up.

 

“My name is Finster,” he says. “The Dark Sculptor, some call me. I’m the monster maker, Doctor, and scientist, around here. Welcome to the team, and remind me to check you for alien immunities that you need.”

 

Tommy smiles, nodding his head.

 

“It’s nice to meet you, too,” he says. “I actually like science.”

 

“Science and magic, and masterfully blending the two, is Finster’s biggest accomplishment,” his Empress says. Tommy laughs.

 

“Cool,” he says.

  
  
  


They stay at the Command Center, after the battle. Overwhelmed. Tired. Confused.

 

Billy works all night, trying to fix first Alpha and then the computers, piecing the Command Center together enough for teleportation or communication his primary objective.

 

The team helps, where they can. Moving a still-glitching and in-pieces Alpha out of the way, and replacing the crushed viewing globe. Billy manages to code a sleeping area into the training room pocket dimension. A room for each of them that he doubts any are using for sleeping, considering the three person training program, running near the bedrooms.

 

But Billy isn’t exactly the one to turn to, when you’re upset.

 

Billy focuses on what he  _ can _ do, instead.

 

He wakes up on Sunday, having passed out against a console, when everyone runs in to look at the viewing globe.

  
  
  


“We should take out the Red Ranger first,” says Goldar. “What good is a body without a head?”

 

“A body with four angry teenagers and a martyr to rally behind,” Tommy points out. “We need time for that, to break him. I’m more worried about Yellow or Blue. Trini could figure me out, and Billy could figure out our plans.”

 

“Yellow is the Heart,” his Empress said. “That’s how the Power chooses. Break her, and we break the team.”

 

Tommy nods.

 

“I agree,” he says. “And Kimberly… Pink is the protector?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Tommy smirks.

 

“Then we need to make her fail.”

  
  
  


“Alright, everyone,” says Jason, as they lock in the Megazord. “You know the drill. Attack with everything you got. Goldar can’t get away.”

 

They’re losing, badly.

 

“We need the Power Sword,” Billy says. “The energy for it is barely still available.”

 

Jason nods.

 

“Alright,” he says. “S—”

 

“Not today, Red,” says a voice that, in retrospect, should be far more familiar than it is. Billy turns and finds himself staring at a Power Ranger, just like any of them. And yet…

 

Green. With a gold shield. The cockpit goes dark, and Billy finds himself flying from the Megazord, landing and realizing that his entire team has been expelled from their Zord.

 

And, across from them, is the Green Ranger, standing strong and proud.

 

“What?” Asks Kimberly.

 

“How?” Asks Zack.

 

“Who are you?” Asks Trini.

 

They’re in the park, and it’s thankfully mostly empty, but… oh no. Billy turns and sees a news van. And…

 

“I am the Green Ranger,” says the Green Ranger. “Chosen of my Empress, Rita Repulsa. And know this, Rangers… you will soon be destroyed.”

 

And then the Green Ranger disappears in a flash of green light, a chilling laugh echoing after him.

  
  
  


One of the three rules of being a Ranger. Never reveal your powers to anyone. And so, on Monday, Billy comes to school exhausted, with only passable homework and a lot of lies and promises he can’t keep to his mom that drag him down.

 

He’s sure that Zack has it worse, on that front.

 

He barely pays attention in class.

 

“What’s wrong, guys?” Tommy asks them, at lunch. “I mean, I get that you were busy last weekend, and all, but… you look like you just lost a war.”

 

A war? Well, it’s about as correct as any descriptor of events.

 

“Just tired,” Zack says.

 

“What were you doing this weekend, Tommy?” Trini asks, and, truly, she is a wonderful boon in this conversation that he knows none of them want to have.

 

More lies. More pretending that he hadn’t been defeated, like he always is.

 

Tommy talks about training and spending more time with his friend and mentor, and her team.

 

“And then on Sunday there was that fight between… Goldar and the Megazord, right? With the Green Ranger?” Tommy says. The entire table freezes, but Tommy seems oblivious. “I hope they win, next time.”

 

“Next time?”

 

Oh. Great.

 

“The Power Rangers never lose, new kid,” says Bulk. “We’ve begun the apocalypse.”

 

Tommy just shrugs.

 

“Just because something is hard doesn’t make it impossible,” he says. “So long as you have Heart.”

  
  
  


Tommy takes the Putties out with relative ease, smiling as they fall. He’s free from constraints, free to  _ fight _ like never before.

 

It’s wonderful.

 

Rita gives him the Sword of Darkness, and he becomes even more sure of himself and his path.

 

“Now,” she says. “It’s time to break a Heart.”

 

Tommy nods.

 

“Yes, my Empress,” he says. The pieces are already in place…

  
  
  


After school, Tommy talks them into spending time at the Youth Center.

 

“Whatever you guys are doing,” he says. “You need a break.”

 

But then the Green Ranger is there, and he attacks. Nobody else fights because how could they, so how could the team fight, either?

 

Without revealing themselves.

 

The Green Rangers grabs Kimberly and holds a sword to her throat.

 

“Give me Trini Kwan,” he says. “Or I kill everyone in here, one by one. Starting with this beautiful girl in Pink.”

 

The heartbreaking part is that Billy knows, immediately, what Trini will do. What any of them would do, for each other.

 

“Let her go,” Trini says. “And I’ll go with you.”

 

“Trini, no!”

 

“Come on, this is a trap!”

 

“Trini, don’t!”

 

Billy is the only Ranger to say nothing, and everyone else just seems too shocked to react. He feels Trini discreetly place her morpher in his hand.

 

The Green Ranger is true to his word, and Trini, honorable person that she is, keeps to hers.

 

And then she’s gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	4. Trini

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There’s only so much Trini can take.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.

“Well?” Trini asks, as they all head from the juice bar, to go their separate ways. “What do you think of him now?”

 

“What do you mean?” Kimberly asks, distractedly. Her eyes keep wandering over to the direction Tommy had left in.

 

“What do you think of Tommy, now that you’ve met him?” Trini explains. She’s never seen Kimberly get like this over a boy, before. She just isn’t the type.

 

“Oh!” Kimberly says. “Yeah. He’s nice, isn’t he? And I just… feel a connection to him.”

 

“Well I’m glad he lived up to your expectations,” Trini jokes. Kimberly glares at her, with zero bite, and then both of them laugh. They make it to the road where they’re paths home diverge.

 

“Bye, Trini,” says Kimberly. “See you, tomorrow.”

 

Trini nods, hugging her friend.

 

“Bye,” she says.

 

(Isn’t it nice, being a soldier unaware of the war?)

  
  
  


Goldar nods his head, in greeting. Everyone in Angel Grove knows  _ him _ . He’s obviously the field general of the team.

 

“Welcome, Human,” he says. Tommy nods back, in respect.

 

“I’m glad to meet you only now that I’m on your side,” he says. Empress Rita laughs.

 

“Don’t be silly, Tommy,” she says. “I have had you as my Chosen, for a long time. I would tell him not to hurt you, if he could avoid it.”

 

Tommy smiles.

 

“Thank you, Empress,” he says. “I feel much better.”

  
  
  


Trini knows that something is wrong with Tommy, but she just can’t figure out what.

 

He seems normal yet not, like he’s hiding something…

 

And then, well… she has bigger problems. Like the destruction of the Command Center. She help Billy, for hours, but she knows he isn’t actually going to follow her to the pocket dimension’s new quarters.

 

The rest of the team is training. Trini meditates. She’s still just as exhausted as the rest, the next day.

 

After the fight with the Green Ranger.

  
  
  


Morphing hurts. Tommy knows that it’s because, for all his perfect traits, he doesn’t have the Power. He has a Golden Shield made of magic.

 

Nonetheless, it’s brilliant. The power and strength and every other sense and skill he has is heightened, now.

 

“My turn,” he says, ready to announce himself. Because that’s what this is about, really. Make sure that everyone knows and fears him, so that taking the Yellow Ranger will be a piece of cake.

 

And it works. The next day, he takes Trini Kwan. And he does it in exchange for the Protector. Irony of ironies.

 

Break the Yellow, break their Heart.

 

It’s amazingly easy, actually. He takes her to a cell in the Moon Palace.

 

“What do you want from me?” Trini asks, standing strong. Tommy smiles behind his helmet.

 

“Yellow Rangers are the Heart of the team,” he says. “I’m gonna break the Rangers’ heart.”

  
  
  


Trini is disciplined, strong in her mind and her body, but she can only take so much. It’s been hours of torture, she thinks. She can’t be sure.

 

She doesn’t know how much more she can take. The Green Ranger sends a powerful kick to her already bruised side, and she can hear something snap.

 

She stopped being able to hold herself up, an hour ago.

 

But even that’s not as bad as everything that the Green Ranger says.

 

“Without their Heart, the team will crumble,” he says. “Maybe, once I’ve actually broken you, I’ll give you a chance to escape, to go back to your team, broken. It’ll make them even angerier, even more defeated. And easier to destroy.”

 

Trini is silent. She  _ can _ get through this.

 

The Green Ranger laughs.

 

“But that obviously won’t be today,” he says. A screen shows up, out of nowhere. “I have to go, but watch closely. Today, I will kill the Blue Ranger.”

  
  
  


Tommy smiles as he teleports, watching the clueless Rangers fight the Putties.

 

“That was the easy part,” he says. “You want to see what’s next?”

 

The team jumps, glares, and the Putties pull back as they line up.

 

“You took our friend!”

 

“And we cannot stand by that!”

 

“You’re going down!”

 

“Alright, Rangers, it’s Morphin Time!”

 

They Morph, charging him as one. Tommy smirks. This will be easy. They even called their weapons, for him.

 

”Putties!” He calls. They already know what they need to do. Keep the Rangers separate so that he can take care of Blue.

 

And he does. Using the Blue Ranger’s own Power Lance, he stabs him through first the stomach and then the heart, using more than the Power but his own magic, as well, to pierce the Grid-made fabric of the Blue Ranger’s armor.

 

“Billy!”

 

The Putties teleport away. Tommy turns to the Rangers.

 

“Better hurry back to base,” he says. “Or you’ll be down two teammates in a day.”

 

The Pink Ranger charges him, but Tommy is already moving. Her arrow hits his shoulder, at an angle that bypasses his shield, and then he’s back on the moon.

  
  
  


Trini watches the battle in horror, seeing  _ exactly  _ what the Green Ranger is doing. She cries out, struggling to escape her restraints as she watches Billy fall, demorphed by the painful damages.

 

And then she watches Kimberly actual hit the Green Ranger, watches the team crowd around Billy.

 

“He’s still breathing, we can still save him,” says Kimberly. They teleport away.

 

And, suddenly, she isn’t so worried. Her team will keep fighting, so she has to, as well.

 

The Green Ranger walks in, followed by an unfamiliar woman dressed in an out fit that immediately makes Trini think of…

 

“This is Scorpina,” the Green Ranger says. “She’ll… keep you company, while I do some… infiltration.”

 

What?

 

Scorpina smiles.

 

The smile is deadly.

  
  
  


“Guys, where were you?” Tommy asks. “I heard about Trini, but I couldn’t find any of you.”

 

He freezes, pretending to be confused and upset. Inside, he’s proud. His plan is working perfectly.

 

“Where’s Billy?” He asks.

 

“Gone,” says Zack, “Missing.”

 

Kimberly puts a hand on Zack’s arm.

 

“He could still come back,” she says. “You know that.”

 

Ah. So the Blue Ranger is holding on to life. That  _ could _ be problematic, but…

 

“Well do you know where he’s gone?” Tommy asks. He knows where he is, but he shouldn’t.

 

Jason shakes his head.

 

“We don’t,” he says. “But that’s… that’s small, when you see what all the Green Ranger is doing. Still think the Power Rangers can save the day?”

 

Tommy shrugs. He thinks  _ a _ Power Ranger will  _ win _ , but that’s a completely different conversation. Heroes and Villains are relative terms. Victory is absolute.

 

“If they don’t, the Earth is doomed to the rule of an alien witch,” he says. “Although… I wonder why the Green Ranger targeted Trini. Maybe she’s a Ranger or something.”

 

The Rangers unsubtly look to each other in worry, and Tommy pretends not to notice, laughing.

 

“Crazy thought, I know,” he says. The bell rings. “See you after school?”

 

The Rangers lock eyes.

 

“Sorry, man,” says Zack. “But we’ll probably be busy for a while.”

 

Tommy feigns disappointment.

 

“Oh,” he says. “Well, Whatever you’re doing…good luck.”

  
  
  


Trini watches the daily attacks the Green Ranger Or Scorpina lead, sometimes while the other hurts her.

 

Each day, for five days. Four attacks, each day. One in Angel Grove, one at a major military location, one at a major government location, and one full of the maximum amount of innocents.

 

Her team fights, and they fight strong. But they can only last so long.

 

(She never sees Billy or Zack. And that worries her, more than she wants to admit. She  _ has _ to stay strong.)

 

Even she herself is failing. On the third day, the Power stops keeping up with the torture. By the fifth, she practically stops reacting to the pain.

 

“I think you’re broken enough to send back,” the Green Ranger says. He leans in, and whispers one final messages. “Just remember… I’m closer than you think.”

 

Green light surrounds her, and she falls to the ground in the middle of the park.

 

Putties surround her.

 

And she knows that She’s going to die.


	5. Zack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone has to hold things together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy, You one or two lovely readers.

Zack is a Black Ranger, the Shadow, and that comes with responsibilities. Every role does. Trini had shown them each files only available to them, early on, each with a role based on their color.

 

Zack is a Black Ranger, and he’s the one who makes the hard choices. He’s the one who  _ has _ to hold it together, despite  _ everything _ .

 

They all flail, as it falls apart, and the new, dark circumstances seem impossible. Kimberly and Jason are angry and lost, and, honestly, so is Zack. Trini is  _ captured _ , and Billy’s in a coma.

 

But Zack steps up to the plate, helps them survive, coordinates where to go and when, during the endless attacks Rita has begun. Jason’s the leader, but his weapon is also more powerful.

 

And They can only teleport  _ from  _ the battles, after all.

 

It’s necessary.

 

(It’s war, Zack realizes. It’s a war for their planet and they’re down two soldiers out of five.)

 

He skips school. He’s never planned to do it. Kimberly and Jason Get his assignments, and  _ bless his parents  _ because they excuse him.

 

But they look at him in worry, whenever he  _ can  _ get home, and Zack just wishes that he could just explain  _ why _ .

  
  
  


Tommy knows that Zack Taylor is dangerous. Each color has its secrets, of course, and his Empress could only give him those of Green and Pink.

 

But he knows the reputation of Blacks, of Shadows.

 

You  _ don’t  _ underestimate them.

 

“Hey Kimberly,” he says, one day at school. Because he’s exhausted, but he’s winning. It’s easy to keep up the game. “Where’s Zack? I haven’t seen him in days, and I’m worried about him. Our friends and us seem to be hard hit by this whole Power Rangers thing. There’ve been, what, four attacks, where we are?”

 

Kimberly looks at him, like she desperately wants to say something, but she can’t, and they both know it.

 

And then she just starts sobbing. Tommy hugs her, comforts her, knowing that, the closer he is, to her, the easier she will be to destroy.

 

“I’m sorry,” she says. “I just… there are so many things I wish I could say, and Trini and Billy are gone, and…”

 

Tommy smiles faking sadness.

 

“Hey, it’s gonna be okay,” he says. “The Power Rangers will save us, like I said. One tough battle can’t do away with them or they’re just worthless. They’ll save Trini, and, wherever he is, Billy will come back, too.”

 

Kimberly smiles. It doesn’t meet her eyes.

 

“Thanks,” she says. “Hey… you wanna go see a movie, this Saturday? I need a distraction.”

 

Tommy smiles.

 

“Sure,” he says. “So do I.”

 

(It’s almost painful, how easy all of this is.)

  
  
  


He’s there, of course, watching the globe and five computer arrays, when Trini is teleported to Earth, and he immediately jumps into the fight from the nearby teleportation jump point. He gets the Putties away, and then he lifts Trini up, gently. She lets out a slight cry of pain.

 

“It’s okay,” he says. “We’re getting you to the Command Center.”

 

He doesn’t call the team in, quite yet. No need to have them hovering. He carries Trini to the healing chamber… thing.

 

Sets her down in the one next to Billy.

 

“Billy,” she says softly. “He’s alive.”

 

Zack nods.

 

“He’s almost healed, even,” he says. “Then we can start fixing everything.”

 

Trini laughs, but it’s not a good laugh.

 

“I don’t think we can,” she says.

  
  
  


Tommy smiles, noting that Kimberly’s communicator beeps during a fight scene, in the film. She doesn’t hear it.

 

Well hopefully the mirage worked. Another layer of securing his identity, even if Trini understands the cryptic clue he’d asked the disguised Scorpina to leave her with. He’ll let them fight over it until Jason’s broken.

 

That’s next on his list.

 

She hears it, as they exit the theatre.

 

“I got to go,” she says, suddenly.

 

“What?”

 

Kimberly sighs.

 

“I’m sorry,” she says. “I’ll call you, tonight, but I just remembered I had to go somewhere.”

 

Tommy laughs.

 

“It’s fine,” he says. “Though I wish you’d tell me what’s going on.”

 

Kimberly sighs.

 

“Me too,” she whispers, quietly enough that it’s easy to pretend not to hear. Louder, she says “I know. Bye!”

 

“Bye, Kimberly.”

  
  
  


Sunday is, worryingly, without attacks. It’s also the day that Billy wakes up, healed and ready to help fix at least the tech side of what’s broken.

 

Billy immediately gets to work at speeding up the healing pods.

 

“We’ll need a full team to even possibly defeat the Green Ranger,” he points out, but Zack knows that it’s just as much about how much he cares about Trini.

 

He also, finally, finishes fixing Alpha.

 

All things put together, Sunday is a good day.

 

Monday is not. On Monday, Jason disappears, and the Green Ranger calls a Zord. He kicks their butts, and Trini’s still not fully healed. He does it again, on Tuesday, and they can’t hold back his attack in Japan.

  
  
  


Tommy… hesitates, when he’s at the point to destroy the Red Ranger. Goldar had handled breaking the Red, and the Red seems far less broken than he should.

 

He doesn’t really  _ want _ to kill the Red Ranger.

 

Yes, he’s dangerous alive, but he’s also a gift. He stabs his sword into Jason’s side. The Red Ranger cries out in pain.

 

“You don’t know who I am,  _ Jason _ , but I know you,” he says. “You’re a good leader, but you’re afraid, and you’re a  _ child _ . You know as well as I do… you’ll never win.”

 

The Red Ranger… laughs.

 

“Maybe,” he says. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t keep fighting.”

 

He kicks Tommy back, surprising him. He lets go of his sword, and Jason rips it out of himself with a scream, then he rolls to where his Morpher lays. God Goldar was stupid.

 

“It’s Morphin Time! Tyrannosaurus!”

 

He escapes.

  
  
  


When they finally get Jason back, it’s Wednesday, and Jason looks shaken, with a few scars and not-so-scarred wounds, but not… not like Trini, who is, herself, finally healed by Billy’s work.

 

But… Trini isn’t like herself. She’s not centered, and she’s very much defeated. She shares some look with Jason that only the two of them can understand.

 

“It was weird,” Jason says. “He says he knows us, but… I think it’s more than that.”

 

“The… the Green Ranger… he said…” Trini stutters our. “He said he was… closer than we thought. I’ve been thinking… well… Tommy…”

 

That… that makes sense.

 

“I don’t know many other humans who are such good fighters,” says Jason. “Especially ones that we know.”

 

“And he’s always wearing green,” Zack points out.

 

“Are you kidding me?” Kimberly asks. “No way. You must be crazy, all of you! Tommy was with me, when Zack found you, Trini!”

 

“Well who else could it be?” Zack finds himself asking. Kimberly… freezes.

 

“I don’t know,” she says. “But it  _ can’t _ be Tommy.”

 

Goldar is the one to face them, on Thursday.

 

In retrospect, it was obviously a trap.

  
  
  


Tommy sees the Rangers storm into the juice bar on Thursday, nervous and angry both. The TV is still replaying the fall of the Zords. Trini had been “found” yesterday, and she seems particularly skittish.

 

Probably because he took her, here. He locks eyes with her, and he knows that she knows, but she can’t prove it because guess where he was when she was let go?

 

With Kimberly.

 

“I hate to say it,” he says. “But I do think, now, that the Power Rangers might not win.”

 

They all shoot him defeated looks or laugh broken laughs.

 

“Maybe,” says Zack.

 

Internally, Tommy smiles.

 

And then their communicators go off.

  
  
  


They  _ almost _ get Zordon back, on Thursday, but they just aren’t fast enough.

 

The Green Ranger is already there.

 

Helmetless.

 

Trini was right.

 

“No…”

 

“So close,” says the Green Rangers, says  _ Tommy _ , the  _ bastard. _ “But I got here first. And Zordon’s even more lost, now.”

 

“What do you want?” Zack Asks. Because Billy wouldn’t, Jason and Trini are petrified, and Kimberly is frozen in shock.

 

“I want what my Empress wants,” says Tommy. “And she wants this planet. My name is Tommy Kai-Rita, and  _ you… _ have lost.”

 

Once again, they can do nothing as he is teleported out, evil laugh echoing behind.


	6. Kimberly.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kimberly is the one to say it. But then there’s the truth. (The final battle commences.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like this chapter!

“I wish you’d tell me where you’re going,” Tommy says, and all Kimberly can think about is that she doesn’t know when her communicator had started beeping.

 

“Me too,” she whispers.

 

They say goodbyes, and Kimberly runs to the nearest alleyway, grateful that Billy had managed to somewhat fix the comms and transporter before…

 

Before the Green Ranger had almost killed him.

 

Before the Green Ranger had captured Trini  _ in civilian form. _

 

In exchange for her.

 

Damn it, but Kimberly had  _ failed  _ her entire team! She’s supposed to be the protector, and now, in part because of her, they’re down two Rangers that they might not get back!

 

Friends that she might lose forever…

 

And she’d missed comm calls because of a  _ date _ .

 

(Her first date. Kind of ruined, to be honest.)

 

She gets there, expecting the worst… but it’s not.

 

“Kim,” Zack says. “Finally you’re here. I have some actual good news.”

 

Kimberly looks at him. What…

 

“Trini?” She asks.

 

Zack nods. Kimberly breathes a relieved sigh.

 

“She’s  _ safe _ ,” she says. “I was dying, without her.”

 

Zack nods.

 

“We all were,” he says. “The Heart. I never… It was just a word.”

 

Kimberly nods. All of this… it feels like her world has changed, again, in a completely different way than the day she had first found herself here, wanting to leave.

 

Now, somehow… she doesn’t.

 

“Where is she?” Kimberly asks. Zack’s face falls.

 

“She’s… healing,” he says. “But she’s not okay. I found her, collapsed in the park.”

 

“Will she live?” Kimberly asks. Because someone has to say it.

 

“I don’t know,” Zack says. “Either way, the Green Ranger kept his promise. He broke our Heart.”

  
  
  


“One day of peace,” Empress Rita says. “That false sense of security will only help break them, in the end.”

 

“And then I have the Red Ranger to break,” says Goldar. “And use as a symbol of your power before I kill him.”

 

Tommy smiles. Week one was the easy part. He knows he’s essentially an official declaration of war, and that’s fine by him.

 

“And the world knows your name,” he says. “They can no longer deny your existence.”

 

“Well I can’t exactly declare war on Earth if they don’t know, now, can I?” Empress Rita asks. “The Rangers will be another down in the next wave!”

 

“It’s too bad you can’t keep this up for more than a month,” points out Squatt.

 

“A month will be more than enough,” says Goldar.

  
  
  


“No…” Kim says because no. No!

 

Tommy is the Green Ranger? But…

 

Zack and Tommy say things to each other, but Kimberly is just frozen in betrayal… and in  _ rage _ . How  _ dare _ he use her?

 

His laugh echoes, as he disappears.

 

“Damn!” Zack cries, kicking a console.

 

“You were right,” Kimberly says, turning to Trini and not recognizing which of her whirling emotions that she speaks with. “And now we lost Zordon again. Our Zord are gone. It’s all…”

 

“I was right,” Trini says, and her voice is quiet, not at all happy at her correctness.

 

“It could take longer than ever, to find Zordon, now,” says Billy.

 

Kimberly can tell that they’re all as defeated as she is.

 

“No!” Jason says. “We can’t give up, now! We’re all Earth has to defend itself with, from Rita.”

 

“So what do we do, then?” Zack asks.

 

It’s not even a question.

 

“We kill the Green Ranger,” Kimberly says. “It’s our best option, after everything he’s done, after what we know he can do.”

 

Kimberly Hart is a Pink, a Protector, and he may be a Ranger, may be a friend, but…

 

He’s not her team, and he hurt her team.

 

“I can’t believe we’re even considering this,” says Trini. “Especially now.”

 

“I can,” says Jason.

 

“I just… didn’t want to say it,” says Zack. “But it’s the only way this ends. He’s just Rita’s most dangerous monster, yet.”

 

“But can we live with the consequences?” Billy asks.

 

They turn to the viewing globe. Something begins to step out of the water, near Angel Grove… a green Zord.

 

Putties, elsewhere.

 

“I think we already are,” Zack says.

 

“Ahah!”

 

Everyone flips around.

  
  
  


The Dragonzord. Tommy can feel it in his mind's eye, calling to him as much as he calls to it, roaring from the death of the ocean.

 

He plays a melody that he instantly knows. Easy as breathing and simple as living.

 

The Dragonzord reaches land, stomping buildings under its feet. Tommy laughs.

 

The Power Rangers are destroyed, and Earth will belong to his Empress and be better for it!

  
  
  


Alpha had installed a failsafe within himself and the Zordon search.

 

“I was worried that the Green Ranger might come back,” he explains. “And I was right.”

 

Kimberly laughs, smiles. Hope isn’t lost.

 

“It should only take me an hour to find Zordon, again,” says Alpha. And that’s… that’s an hour of giant sized destruction that they can’t fight, but it’s enough.

 

It has to be enough.

  
  
  


Tommy doesn’t need to actually enter his Zord, and it’s more fun, to stand on the side of it.

 

Empress Rita will succeed!

 

And yet… there’s something wrong, something tugging at Tommy’s mind.

 

(The thing about Morphers is that the instincts they imbue you with comes from the Morphing Grid. Sometimes, if you hold an identical connection to the Power, it comes with memories.)

 

_ “A Ranger fights to defend those who can’t,”  _ whispers a voice he has destroyed twice over.  _ “Are you willing to take the responsibility with the Power, young one?” _

 

_ “Yes,” _ says a girl in memory.

 

“I don’t know,” Tommy whispers to no one. And then a flash of power fills him, and he forgets.

  
  
  


“Rita has forced them to do these terrible deeds under a spell,” Zordon says. “Tommy must be defeated and the Sword of Darkness destroyed before I can save them.”

 

“But we can save him?” Kimberly asks.

 

“Yes.”

 

“The question is,” Zack says. “Do we want to?”

 

“Of course we do,” Kimberly says. “He’s our friend, and he’s trapped.”

 

How could he even  _ say _ that?

 

“I agree with Kimberly,” Billy says. “Tommy entered our circle of trust prior to the Green Ranger’s arrival, and making the Green Ranger our ally would significantly tip the balance of power in our favor.”

 

“He spoke of a friend before he joined Rita,” Trini points out in that way that always makes sense but sounds wrong in Trini’s quiet-not-to-be-heard voice, so different from what Kimberly is used to, “The same friend he used as a descriptor  _ of _ Rita. If we use his willingness as a deciding point…”

 

Kimberly looks at her friends in shock. Especially Trini, who had been against killing Tommy, just an hour ago.

 

“You…” she says. “Look, I was the first one ready to kill Tommy, if we needed to, but, if he’s mind controlled…”

 

She’s the protector, and she failed. Now she has a chance to fix that, to gain instead of lose.

 

And parts of that is selfish, yes. Because she likes Tommy a lot, because she wants repentance for her failures with Trini. Billy. Jason.

 

But, mostly, she just wants to save a civilian who was forced into this… this…

 

War.

 

It’s a war, Kimberly realizes.

 

“We’ve seen what he can do,” she finds herself saying. “And Rita’s obviously done pulling her punches. We need him.”

 

It’s that simple. It’s that complex.

  
  
  


Tommy watches in surprise, as the Zords charge out to meet him, the Red and Pink Tyrannosaurus and Pterodactyl zords.

 

He’d thought, they’d  _ all _ thought that it would take more time than this, for the Rangers to rally.

 

Because they obviously would. Zordon picked teenagers for their stubbornness, among other things.

 

Nonetheless, Tommy is ready, as the Red Ranger jumps from his Zord to meet Tommy.

 

He plays the fighting melody to his Zord.

 

_ Keep the Zords fighting you! _

 

And then he summons the Sword of Darkness alongside his Dragon Dagger.

  
  
  


“You know the plan, right?” Jason asks over the comms. Kimberly nods.

 

“Got it,” she says. “Receiving dual control of the Pterodactyl and Tyrannosaurus Zords now.”

 

She’d won, kind of. Jason just needs to defeat someone who’s consistently beaten their entire team for two weeks, by himself.

 

She can’t focus on their battle. She has her own. The Dragonzord, which keeps grappling with the Tyrannosaurus Zord and  _ still _ almost grabbing her own Zord, during swooping attacks.

 

After ten minutes of fighting, she gets the news. Just as the Dragonzord begins to stop back into the ocean.

 

“The Sword of Darkness is destroyed,” Jason says. “Kim, wanna come down?”

 

Kimberly smiles.

 

“Definitely,” she says. “Someone’s gotta play damage control.”

 

“Red out,” says Jason.

 

“Glad one of us is having luck,” says Zack, over the in-Suit comm. “We’re gonna need some help like… fifteen minutes ago.”

 

“Wait until we finish this?” Kimberly asks. “After that, we’re on our way.”

 

“We can handle it, Kimberly,” says Trini. “For a bit— AHH!”

 

What?!

 

“Trini?” Kimberly Asks. “Zack! Billy, come in!”

 

No more sound comes in, from their end. Kimberly jumps out of her Zord from the air, to get to Jason, glad the Power had helped her land just right.

 

“Jason!” She says. “I can’t reach the others!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun DUN…


	7. Zordon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And now our story comes to a close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally done.

If Zordon had payed closer attention, he would have noticed the small blips of energy, signalizing Rita’s teleportation to Earth.

 

If he’d payed closer attention, he would have noticed when Tommy disappeared, too.

 

But he wasn’t paying attention, not enough.

 

He doesn’t realize until a Green Ranger in strange golden armor stands in front of him and declares “It’s time for you to be destroyed, Zordon!”

 

Then he does understand, does see.

 

“Tommy,” he says. “Rita has you under a spell. You must fight it!”

 

Tommy laughs, then.

 

“I serve my Empress with pride,” he says, words full of sarcasm and malice. “You can’t change my mind, old many.”

 

“You are under Rita’s spell!” Zordon tries again. Because he can still remember a girl, equivalent to seventeen earth years of human maturity. One he’d failed. One who had worn this same suit. “I can free you, Tommy.”

 

“There’s nothing you can free me from,” Tommy says, shooting the transporter and then the viewing globe.

 

“Tommy, you will regret this,” Zordon says, trying not to make his warning come out as a threat.

 

“Only if I lose, old man,” says Tommy, laughing. “And I don’t plan on losing.”

 

“Tommy!” Zordon cries, feeling his connection to the dimension fall away. “No…”

  
  
  


“The first priority, of course, is Zordon,” Rita points out. “When you Morph, you will need to go immediately to the Command Center.”

 

Tommy nods.

 

“Naturally,” he says. “I like this plan, a lot.”

 

“You made your mark on it,” Goldar says. “I’m impressed, human.”

 

Tommy smiles.

 

“Thanks,” he says.

  
  
  


Zordon watches. It’s all he can do. He watches his Rangers, his kids that he’s lead closer than any other team since… millennia ago.

 

And he watches Tommy.

 

The thing he had been afraid to tell his kids was… the past two and a half months have all been tests. Tests by Rita, to see if she had to actually declare an all-out war.

 

But his kids have been strong, always rising to the challenges.

 

The Green Ranger, however, is a declaration of war.

 

And, in his efforts to protects his Rangers, he’d instead left them vulnerable, clueless…

 

(This isn’t the first time, with this uniform, either.)

  
  
  


Tommy grunts in pain, letting his morph fall, the moment he gets back to the Moon Palace.

 

He’s morphed, twice, and it hurt like hell, each time. Finster hands him some sort of energy restoring potion, remembering the previous day, and Tommy tanks him.

 

“The next step, of course,” Tommy says, “Is to  _ use _ the fact that everyone knows me.”

 

To take out the Heart.

  
  
  


Zordon watches Trini sacrifice herself. He’s proud, so proud. And so, so scared.

 

There’s a prophecy that speaks of Green’s return to the team, it doesn’t speak of death, only of life, and colors. Light.

 

(The White Light, but that’s impossible, because only the Star Squadron had ever held the Power in a such a way that the Grid allowed each of them access to its entire rainbow. And only Zordon is alive with the ability.)

 

It’s hard to see that light, that hope, that colorful future already promised.

  
  
  


“This is Scorpina,” Empress Rita says. “She’s an old friend. She’s been… running my affairs, in my absence.”

 

Scorpina is mostly humanoid, and she smiles, when Tommy holds out his hand.

 

“Is this an earth greeting?” She asks. Oh. Right. Aliens.

 

“It’s called a handshake,” Tommy says. “We grab hands and we shake them.”

 

Scorpina does.

 

“It’s nice to meet you, Green Ranger,” she says. “I’ve heard good things.”

 

“Please,” Tommy says. “Call me Tommy.”

 

“Tommy, then,” says Scorpina. “Hey, how do you do in a fight?”

 

“I’m good, for a human,” Tommy says. “Why?”

 

“He can spar with you after he does his work, Scorpina,” Rita says.

 

“Work?”

 

Tommy shrugs.

 

“I’ve captured the Yellow Ranger, to break her. Break the heart,” he says, “You want to help?”

  
  
  


Zordon watches. He watches Scorpina let’s Trini go. He watches as Billy is almost killed and Zack skips school to run the Command Center manually and Jason and Kimberly fly in the Pink Ranger’s Zord to far off battles because the teleportation system only has one drop point out of the Command Center, now.

 

Trapped, unable to be seen, he thinks.

 

The Power needs young sentients, to activate it. That’s just the sad truth. You  _ can _ keep fighting, after that, but most who can do so pass on their powers in their thirties, at the oldest. To keep the Rangers at their full strength.

 

And yet… to have the potential for the Power is so rare. It takes the right person and the right moment in the timespace continuum.

 

Zordon has learned one thing very clearly, in all his failures with those who’ve worn the uniform of this Earth team.

 

You need to choose Rangers who are friends.

 

And five people, the right age, who all already know each other?

 

It had been perfect.

 

By the Power, they’re still just  _ children _ , though. Children not even prepared and raised in war, like past chosen Rangers who were around their age.

 

(He remembers fingering the sixth Power Coin in his hand, knowing who it was meant for but not wanting to admit it.)

 

But they’d been there, together, and he hadn’t gotten to see them, know them, until after.

 

The simple truth is that he doesn’t know if they’ll all even survive this, much less win.

  
  
  


“That was a close one,” Tommy says as he reforms on the moon. “You needed me, Empress?”

 

Rita smiles.

 

“You’re doing great, Tommy,” she says. “The  _ perfect _ Green Ranger. In fact… I have a gift.”

 

She holds out a large, intricate dagger.

 

“The Dragon Dagger,” Rita says. “With it, you can call and control your Zord, the Dragonzord.”

 

Tommy takes it. There’s a beauty to it, this Dagger. A magic, one that instantly makes Tommy feel at home. It’s like his Empress’, but… brighter.

 

(Good, a voice whispers. It was hers when she was good.)

 

“Thank you, Empress,” Tommy says. “I won’t let you down.”

  
  
  


Zordon doesn’t immediately say anything, while the Rangers argue about what to do, next. Tommy is an innocent in this and yet they’re not.

 

But Zordon has lead many formerly evil Rangers, both those who had had a choice and those who had been forced into evil.

 

He’s fought just as many, who were evil to the end.

 

(And no that doesn’t make him want to look at the moon and the one he’d once called a daughter. Definitely not. And he certainly doesn’t want to look beyond that, to one who he’d once called a friend.)

 

“We need him,” says Kimberly, and he sees the realization hit her. This official start of the war has taken his Rangers’ innocence and shattered it.

 

They will stay strong, he thinks, now that they are finally all back together. And yet…

 

“The choice is yours, Rangers,” Zordon says. “But look into your hearts.”

  
  
  


When the Red Ranger, when  _ Jason _ destroys the Sword of Darkness, Tommy screams in pain. Then the Red is walking towards him.

 

Tommy feels as if his brain itself is in splinters. He stumbles to his feet, clutching his dagger.

 

“Come with me,” Jason says. “Or I’ll have to take you down.”

 

“Get away from me!” He yells. He’s not sure if it’s a threat or a plea. He doesn’t…

 

“Your freed from the Sword of Darkness,” Jason says. “If you really are a good person, you can break Rita’s spell.”

 

“No!” Tommy cries. He doesn’t… he doesn’t…

 

He freezes. No, he does. His Empress  _ had _ brainwashed him, he remembers, now. He doesn’t want…

 

Something snaps. Tommy collapses to the ground, demorphing. He doesn’t drop his dagger, though.

 

“What have I  _ done _ ?” He whispers. He looks at Jason, who’s still morphed.

 

That’s fair. After everything he’s done. He doesn’t even…

 

“What are you going to do with  _ me _ ?” He asks.

 

“Jason!”

 

Tommy blinks, flipping around to see Kimberly neatly flip to the ground, with a roll, jumping back up next to Jason.

 

“I can’t reach the others,” Kimberly says, overwhelmed. “We have to go  _ now. _ ”

 

Jason nods.

 

“Right,” he says. “Alpha, get us to the battle, and get Tommy to the Command Center.”

 

Tommy disappears in a flash of green light.

  
  
  


Zordon watches the Green Ranger stumble back upon seeing him.

 

“They found you, anyways,” Tommy says.

 

“They did,” Zordon replies, simply. “They did not want to bring you here, either.”

 

Tommy sighs.

 

“I don’t blame them,” they say. “After everything I’ve done…”

 

“Rangers claiming to work for good have done worse,” Zordon replies. “And I have always believed that those with good in their hearts are deserving of second chances.”

 

“And how often does that work out for you?” Tommy snarks, pacing. Zordon would be worried about the Green Ranger’s seeming flip from guilty to angry, but mind control doesn’t instantly just… disappear, especially with the often subtler techniques Rita is skilled at.

 

Her base knowledge of magic was light magic, after all.

 

Zordon decides to be honest.

 

“Sometimes I’m wrong,” he says. “More times than I would wish.”

 

Tommy laughs. It’s not the evil, taunting laugh it was, but it’s almost… broken. Like that fear and horror turned inwards.

 

“I don’t even have the Power,” Tommy says. “Not really. And yet you allowed me here?”

 

“A team is only at its best with the presence of their Sixth,” Zordon says. “And you have Power enough for this.”

 

Tommy freezes. Falls.

 

“Power,” they say. “Right.”

 

In his mind’s eye, Zordon monitors the Rangers’ fight. They’re still losing, even with Jason and Kimberly’s arrival.

 

He lights the Viewing Globe.

  
  
  


“Come on, guys!”

 

What? Tommy flips around. Jason. But…

 

The Viewing Globe.

 

“Not sure how long we can keep this up,” says Kimberly.

 

“Well what choice do we have?” Zack asks.

 

Tommy watches.

 

“They’re losing,” he says. “And My Em— _ Rita _ can keep this up for two more weeks.”

 

“They need their Sixth,” Zordon says, and Tommy nods, understanding.

 

He can turn the tides of this fight. He turns to Alpha.

 

“Send me to the fight,” he says. “Please. I can help them.”

 

“Do it, Alpha,” says Zordon. The robot shakes his head.

 

“Ay-yi-yi,” he says. “Good luck, Green Ranger.”

 

Tommy laughs.

 

“I’m gonna need it,” he says. “It’s Morphin Time! Dragonzord!”

  
  
  


“Zordon, are you sure this is a good decision?” Alpha asks, as the Green Ranger disappears in a flash of light.

 

In all honesty? It likely isn’t, but…

 

“I’m sure that is is the  _ best _ decision,” Zordon says.

 

And… well, he’s right. Tommy Oliver Kai-Rita doesn’t naturally have the Power, but the Green Ranger as they are is still quite obviously the exact Sixth this team needs, falling into step with them,  _ winning _ with them…

 

They come back, and Tommy demorphs as the others simply remove their helmets. Zordon had almost forgotten that using a Morpher without the a connection to the Grid is deadly, and it must hurt the teen even with the conduit of the shield.

 

“Congratulations, Rangers,” he says.

  
  
  


“You have all done admirably, in this battle and all of those I could not be here for,” Zordon says. “And thank you, Green Ranger, for your help.”

 

Tommy blinks.

 

“It wasn’t a question,” he says. “I had to help, or they would have died.” He turns to the Rangers. “I won’t ask you to forgive me, but… I want to help.”

 

Kimberly smiles.

 

“My answer’s a given,” she says. “You weren’t in control.”

 

He was, but he wasn’t, and… Tommy’s not touching that. Not yet.

 

“You were our friend,” Billy says. “And you will be a powerful ally.”

 

Tommy smiles.

 

“I’ll try my best,” he says.

 

He turns to Trini, next. She’s who he’s most worried about, actually, and she won’t meet his eyes, but…

 

“Did you know Rita before you were a Ranger?” She asks. Tommy freezes.

 

“I…” he says.

 

“Well I’m out,” Zack says. “If that’s your answer.”

 

“I didn’t know,” Tommy says. “She didn’t call herself Rita, and she was… nice. I didn’t know, and I tried to say no. She… she didn’t listen.”

 

He wraps his arms around himself, shivering in the short sleeved shirt. Why has he worn that, today?

 

Oh. Right. Color withdrawal and this being his only clean green shirt left.

 

It had made sense, everything had made sense, under the spell… and now that mix of downloaded and explained new knowledge just doesn’t fit and hurts all the more.

 

“Then I’m in agreement,” Trini says, surprising him. “Welcome to the team.”

 

And now it’s Tommy who can’t meet  _ her _ eyes. Jason puts a hand on his shoulder.

 

“Hey, you didn’t have a choice,” he says. “I guess… you’re my friend.”

 

Tommy nods. He has a feeling that, for all that he’d feared Trini’s decision, Zack will be the hardest.

 

“I don’t trust you or like you,” Zack says. “Not after this. There’s got to be a reason Rita chose you past your fighting skills, but… I’ll stand with my team.”

 

Tommy nods. That’s… that’s enough. He turns back to Zordon.

 

“If you are to join the team, you must follow three simple rules,” says Zordon. Tommy nods.

 

“Never use your power for personal gain,” Zordon continues. “Never escalate a battle, and never reveal your identity to  _ anyone _ .”

 

Tommy nods.

 

“I’ll follow your rules to the letter,” he says. “Anything you need.” He turns to the team. “All of you, anything you need. To make up for what I’ve done.”

 

“But it’s more than you, isn’t it?” Jason asks. “This is war, now.”

 

Tommy nods. There’s more, but… that’s far too complex, and Tommy only knows the basics, in that Rita is part of an alliance of conquerors, many far worse than her, lead by a being called Dark Spectre.

 

“I was her official declaration,” he says.

 

“Then the Power Rangers, and all of our skirmishes…” Billy begins.

 

“Were only the beginning,” Trini finishes.

 

Zordon’s sigh is bone-deep.

 

“I’m sorry, Rangers,” he says. “But you are all correct. This is no simple conflict, anymore. Rita Repulsa has declared war on Earth.”

 

“And we’re the only ones who stand in the way,” Zack says.

 

The silence, after that, is deafening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think one of my favorite elements of Tommy’s (first) time as the Green Ranger is how little agency he had over any of it. He was mind controlled and then freed by someone else simply breaking a spell. He couldn’t even try to save his powers during the Green Candle Arc. You’ll note that, for all that he has a POV in each chapter, he doesn’t really control the story. He’s just… following.
> 
> Until this final chapter. He makes his own choices.
> 
> And he makes the right ones.
> 
> Also, I’m sorry. I really did plan to end on a high note!

**Author's Note:**

> I loved making the idea of Tommy and the Power. But, guess what?
> 
> There are still some pieces left, in that particular puzzle.
> 
> Find me on Tumblr @flaim-ita


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